INSIDE ART

By Carol Vogel

Published: November 22, 2002

The Morgan On Loan

Many of the financier J. P. Morgan's favorite medieval artworks -- the ones that he kept in his private study until his death in 1913 and that have since been housed at the Pierpont Morgan Library -- recently went on view in the Medieval Tapestry Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they will stay for at least two and a half years while the Morgan undergoes a $100 million expansion.

''These are objects that will stop people in their tracks,'' said Peter Barnet, the curator in charge of medieval art at the Met and the Cloisters. ''Some of them are among the best Morgan had.'' Mr. Barnet admits that even the Met's collections don't have examples as complete or as extraordinary.

Among the best is the Stavelot Triptych from the Abbey of Stavelot in Belgium, made in the 12th century to hold fragments of the True Cross. Incorporating enamel, silver and precious stones, the triptych is considered a masterpiece of medieval goldsmith work, Mr. Barnet said. Its centerpiece is a smaller Byzantine triptych made of cloisonné enamel on gold where the relic of the cross has been placed. ''We have wonderful enamels, but almost no museum has a work as complete as this,'' Mr. Barnet said.

Also on view is the gold and jeweled binding of the Lindau Gospel Book. The front cover, created in the court workshop of the ninth-century Emperor Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne, has finely worked gold, star sapphires, garnets, emeralds, pearls and other stones.

''Many of these pieces were difficult to see at the Morgan because of the way some of the objects were displayed in the study, which is maintained as a period room,'' Mr. Barnet said. ''Here we have three well-lit, free-standing cases.''

Other treasures from the Morgan will soon go into storage. On Dec. 4 the McKim building that houses Morgan's original library will close to the public, and the other two buildings will close on May 4. The entire library is to reopen in early 2006.

''We've just completed the design-development phase,'' said Charles E. Pierce Jr., director of the Morgan. ''Despite the economy we feel the time is right for the institution to go forward.''

So far the Morgan has raised around $62 million for the project, which is budgeted at $100 million for the building and $25 million for an endowment to support library operations.

The expansion, designed by Renzo Piano, includes a new reading room; more gallery space; a larger, modernized auditorium; improved circulation; and a more welcoming entrance. ''The design is completely program driven,'' Mr. Pierce added.

When the library closes, its staff will move elsewhere in Manhattan to a site not yet determined, Mr. Pierce said. Meanwhile, the Morgan still plans to offer some programs -- lectures, concerts and other educational programs -- in a temporary site that it will announce soon. The library is also organizing six to eight traveling exhibitions.

Lord Thomson's Gift

After the spectacular $76.7 million -- a record for an old master painting at auction -- paid for Rubens's ''Massacre of the Innocents'' (1609-11) at Sotheby's in London in July, many in the art world wondered if the public would ever have a chance to see this extraordinary painting again. This week the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto announced that Lord Thomson of Fleet, the former owner of The Times of London and one of the richest men in Canada, has promised this painting along with nearly 2,000 other works in his collection to the gallery after it completes a $315 million renovation and expansion.

The California architect Frank Gehry has been chosen to design the expansion of the gallery's 1911 building, to be completed in 2007. Plans include adding about 40 percent more gallery space, 75,000 square feet. Lord Thomson is contributing $44 million to the project. Federal and provincial governments are giving $30 million and the rest will come from private donors, gallery officials said.

''This gift is going to make us a very different museum,'' said Matthew Teitelbaum, its director. ''The Rubens, along with related works on paper, will tell the story of the high point of the Baroque. In addition, his collection of European works of art is thought to be one of the finest formed within the last 30 years. It will become an important focus for study.'' The gift also includes a collection of 19th-century Canadian art.

The gallery has housed 300 works from Lord Thomson's collection since 1997.

A Dallas Skybox

When the Nasher Sculpture Center opens in Dallas in October, it will not only showcase works by artists like Picasso and de Kooning, Moore and Robert Smithson from the real estate developer Raymond D. Nasher's own collection, but also have a site-specific piece commissioned by the installation artist James Turrell. The work, ''Tending (Blue),'' is one of Mr. Turrell's free-standing ''Skyspaces,'' enclosed spaces that are free-standing structures like rooms open to the sky through rectangular or rounded holes in the roof. Each is large enough for viewers to enter; many have benches so visitors can sit inside them and concentrate on the sky.

''Tending (Blue),'' to be placed at one end of the garden, will be a cube measuring 26 by 26 by 26 feet on the outside and 22 by 22 by 22 feet on the inside with a black granite exterior, limestone benches and white plaster walls. It will be able to hold 20 to 25 people. Unlike Mr. Turrell's other ''Skyspaces,'' this one will have both air conditioning and heating so it can be used year round.

''I'm hoping this will be a magnet,'' Mr. Nasher said. ''Turrell is a very exciting artist.'' Before commissioning the work, he said, he visited many of the artist's installations, including ''Roden Crater,'' Mr. Turrell's project to reshape an extinct volcano near Flagstaff, Ariz. ''Everything else in the garden will either be pieces purchased or part of the collection,'' Mr. Nasher added. ''This will be the first Turrell in Dallas.''

Off to Buffalo

Louis Grachos, director of Site Santa Fe, a New Mexico contemporary arts center, since 1996, has been named director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. Mr. Grachos will succeed Douglas G. Schultz, who is retiring after 30 years at the museum, 19 of them as director. Mr. Grachos is to start on Jan. 21.